WO1994003385A1

WO1994003385A1 - Method and apparatus for preparing printing paper rolls for joining to other paper rolls

Info

Publication number: WO1994003385A1
Application number: PCT/SE1993/000646
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bo Carlén
Original assignee: IDAB-WAMAC AB; Wamac Idab AB
Current assignee: IDAB-WAMAC AB; Wamac Idab AB
Priority date: 1992-08-07
Filing date: 1993-07-30
Publication date: 1994-02-17
Anticipated expiration: 1995-02-07
Also published as: SE9202307L; GB9500519D0; DE4393771T1; FR2694545A1; GB2283734A; AU4765993A; SE469834B; SE9202307D0

Abstract

In a method and equipment for preparing paper rolls in a manner to enable one roll to be joined to another, the rolls (1) are transported separately by means of carriages (70) to a determined position in a join-preparing apparatus (30) which includes a join-preparing device (35) which is spaced from the determined carriage position. A carousel (31) has two diametrically arranged holders (33). While one holder (33) is located in a first holder position (33b) adjacent the carriage (70) in the determined position of the carriage, the other holder is located in a second holder position (33a) in which it coacts with the join-preparing device (35). A join-preparation is effected on a roll held at the join-preparing device (35) by one holder essentially in the time taken to transfer a join-prepared roll from the second holder (33) in the first position to an empty carriage (70) located in the defined position and while a roll which has arrived on a new carriage in the determined position is transferred to the other holder (33). The carriage which has received the join-prepared roll is driven immediately to its destination, for instance a paper roll rack, and is replaced in the aforesaid determined position by a carriage which carries an unprepared roll. This roll is immediately transferred to a holder (33) on the transfer device (31).

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING PRINTING PAPER ROLLS FOR JOINING TO OTHER PAPER ROLLS

The present invention relates to a method and to appara- tus for preparing a join between sequential rolls of printing paper, said method and apparatus being of the kind defined in the preamble of the respective indepen¬ dent method and apparatus Claim.

Rolls of newsprint can be prepared for joining, or splicing, in the following manner:

The roll of newsprint, whose wrappings have been previ¬ ously removed in a separate working stage, is cut clean at the outer end of the rolled paper web and given a tongued shape, i.e. is given a shape which tapers to¬ wards the extremity of said end. The outer surface of the outer end-part of the web is then coated with a relatively strong adhesive, suitably a pressure sensi- tive adhesive, which in the case of overlap joins is intended to bond to the inside surface of the trailing end of a paper roll under use in a printing press and when the roll in use is almost fully consumed. When preparing the join, it is also necessary to ensure that the outer end-part of the web or roll is held firmly against the inwardly lying winding turn of the roll right up to the moment at which the join is established, and to this end, the inner surface of the outer end-part of the paper web may be glued to the underlying winding turn with a relatively weak glue. Alternatively, a relatively strong adhesive may be applied between the inner surface of the web end-part and the underlying winding turn, while the join adhesive is located further in on the roll, wherein a weakening is provided in the web end-part between the mutually separate regions of adhesive in the longitudinal direction of the web. When joining together two rolls, the new roll is placed adjacent the roll from which the paper web runs through the press, and the new roll is rotated to a peripheral speed which corresponds to the web speed of the "old" roll, whereafter the two webs can be brought into con¬ tact with one another and mutually joined/spliced, wherewith the weak glue joint between the inside of the outer end-part of the new roll and the underlying wind¬ ing turn is broken as the gluing location moves away from the new roll to the paper web of the old roll running to the printer. In the alternative choice com¬ prising the inclusion of a weakening line, the paper web is torn-off along the weakening line as the web-end tends to follow the perimeter of the new roll subsequent to joining/splicing the rolls.

In this regard, a transporter can be arranged to trans¬ port the rolls to and from a join-preparing apparatus, in which the rolls are prepared for joining by means of a joining device, which may be of a known and conven¬ tional construction, wherein the transporter is caused to transport the join-prepared rolls to different print¬ ing press roll stands located at different distances from the join-preparing apparatus.

The object of the present invention is to provide in the immediate vicinity of the join-preparing apparatus a short carriage-stay time while a carriage delivers a roll and receives a roll which has been prepared for joining, for transportation of this prepared roll to a roll rack.

The object of the invention also includes the provision of this short carriage-stay time even when the apparatus has only one join-preparing device. Another object of the invention is to enable this short carriage-stay time to be achieved with the aid of simple method steps and with apparatus of low complexity.

These objects are achieved by means of the invention as defined in the independent method Claim and the indepen¬ dent apparatus Claim.

Further developments of the invention will be evident from the accompanying dependent Claims. One important feature of the invention is that a roll is prepared for joining to another roll during that period in which a subsequent roll is transferred from a carriage to the join-preparing apparatus and a preceding roll is trans¬ ferred from the apparatus to said carriage which is now empty after having delivered its load, so that a car¬ riage which arrives at the join-preparing apparatus can be loaded immediately with a join-prepared roll as soon as the carriage has been unloaded.

According to one prepared embodiment of the inventive method and the inventive apparatus, the rolls are trans¬ ferred between the carriage and the join-preparing device forming part of the join-preparing apparatus by means of two diametrically opposed roll holders mounted on a carousel having a vertical axle, wherein the join- preparing device and the carriage are located at two diametrically opposed positions in relation to the carousel axle, and wherein the carousel is arranged to adjust the holders in circumferential positions which correspond to a roll being located immediately above the carriage in its determined position when the other roll is in alignment with the join-preparing device.

It will be understood, however, that the inventive principle can be realized with alternative specific equipment and methods which offer the same principle function and which are defined generally in the follow¬ ing Claims.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to exemplifying embodiments thereof and also with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 illustrates in perspective a preferred embodi¬ ment of a join-preparing apparatus forming part of the inventive equipment;

Figure 2 is a schematic top view of a printing system which includes the apparatus shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 illustrates schematically a stand for receiv¬ ing join-prepared paper rolls; and

Figure 4 illustrates schematically an example of one such join-prepared roll.

Referring first to Figure 4, it will be seen that the outer web end-part 3 of the join-prepared roll 1 is joined to the underlying winding turn of the roll by means of a glue joint 17. It will also be seen that the outer surface of the end-part 3, at a greater distance from its free-end, is provided with a joining region 18 to which a strong adhesive, preferably a pressure-sensi¬ tive adhesive, has been applied for splicing or joining purposes. The joint 17 may be weaker than the joint 18. Alternatively, the end-part may be provided with a weakening line 19, such as a perforated line, between the join regions 17, 18.

Figure 3 illustrates a rotating paper roll 1' from which the paper web 2 ' moves into a printing press 40. A further roll 1 is journalled parallel with the roll 1' and downstream thereof, in a position such that the periphery of the further roll will lie in the vicinity of the moving web 2 ' when the roll 1' begins to be deplete of paper. The peripheral speed 4 of the roll 1 corresponds to the web speed 4' of the web 2' , and can be joined/spliced by pressing the prepared end of the roll onto the tail end of the web 2 ' with the aid of a displaceable roller 5, such that the glue region 18 will mutually bond the respective webs 2, 2 ' of the rolls 1, 1', while causing the web to part along the weakening line 19 as the web-end 3 tends to follow the web 2 ' instead of following the periphery of the roll 1 away from the web 2' .

The rolls 1, 1' and a new roll 1" can be journalled on mutually parallel and angularly preferably equally spaced shafts on a roll stand which has the form of a revolving multi-armed carrier 80 which is rotatable about its central horizontal axle 8, so as to enable a new roll 1" to take the illustrated positions of the rolls 1 and 1'.

The apparatus 30 illustrated in Figure 1 includes a device 35 which cuts clean the end of the roll web and provides this web end-part 3 with protective release strips 17, 18 and a weakening line 19 as shown in Figure 4, or provides the roll with other roll-joining means of the kind mentioned in the introduction to the descrip- tion. The device 35 may be of conventional construction. As shown in Figure 2 , a system may include a storage 10 for transport-wrapped paper rolls l, a machine 20 for removing the roll wrappings, an apparatus 30 (see also Figure 1) for preparing an unwrapped roll 1 for joining to another roll, a plurality of printing presses 40, each including at least one roll stand 80, for instance a roll stand of the kind illustrated in Figure 3. Figure 2 also shows that the system may include a storage facility 50 for join-prepared rolls 1, and a receiving station 60 for the cores of consumed rolls 1. It should be understood, however, that the invention can also be applied with a system which includes only one printing press which has at least two roll stands.

The system illustrated in Figure 2 also includes a roll transport carriage 70. The carriage 70 is suitably of the known kind which is guided in a movement path with the aid of guide loops hidden in the floor, or by radio control means or the like, and in general by remote control or by carriage driving instructions stored in the memory of a computer, wherein the carriage 70 is able to move along the circuate path 71 and to pass from this circuate path to and from the various stations. It will be seen that the join-preparing station 30 is located at a considerable distance from the roll stands and may serve the roll stands of several printing press¬ es 40, or several roll stands of a single printing press.

One characteristic feature of the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1 is that it includes a revolver or carousel 31 having a vertical rotation axle 32 and two diametri¬ cally arranged holders 33a, 33b, each of which receives a respective roll 1. The revolver 31 can be rotated backwards and forwards between two holder positions mutually separated through 180°, these positions being illustrated in Figure 1.

One holder position is conveniently located immediately above the carriage 70 in its determined or specific position relative to the apparatus 30, so as to enable a roll to be lifted vertically by the carriage when the carriage is located in its determined position and in its specific position of orientation adjacent the appa¬ ratus 30. At the same time, the other holder 33a holds a roll aligned with and close to the join-preparing device 35, which can be moved forwards and backwards towards and away from the roll 1 in the holder 33a, in accordance with Figure 1. The join-preparing device 35 is normally intended to unwind one or more turns from the roll and to cut the end of the roll web to a desired shape, for instance to cut the web-end straight in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the web, and the device 35 is constructed to provide the roll with the join-preparation according to Figure 4 with one of the remaining aforesaid join-preparing joints.

As the join-preparing device 35 cuts the end of the web, paper scrap will result, and for this reason it is convenient to place a collecting tray beneath the device 35 in its operative position. The bottom of the collect¬ ing tray may be formed by a conveyor belt 37 which collects the paper scrap and carries it to a hoist means 371 which feeds the scrap to a scrap-collecting bin 38.

Since the two holders 33a, 33b have, in principle, the same function, it is suitable for the holders to have the same construction. The revolver or carousel 31 may include a diametral arm 310 which engages the centre of the horizontal web 331 of a generally U-shaped bracket structure 330 which is arranged in a vertical plane, with the web 331 at right angles to the arm 310. The legs 332 of the U-shaped bracket can be moved horizon¬ tally along the web 331 and carry trunnions 333 which are coaxial pair-wise for horizontally supporting a roll 1, as illustrated in Figure 1. The carriage 70 is preferably arranged to centre a roll 1 against the holder 330, and the legs 332 of the brack¬ et structure can be driven in a manner to grip a centred roll and release said roll so that the rolls 1 will always lie centred on the carriage 70 when placed there¬ on, irrespective of the length of the roll concerned.

The means for guiding movement of the bracket legs 332 in relation to the bracket web 331 are suitably con- structed to move one end of the roll 1 to a terminal position along the bracket web 331 when the holder is located in a coacting position in relation to the join- preparing device 35, since preferred join-preparing devices 35 require such a terminal position in order to operate in the most favourable manner with rolls of mutually different axial lengths. However, the person skilled in this art will understand that it lies within the ability of the skilled person to establish a desired axial position of the roll along the axis defined by the pins or trunnions 333.

In the case of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1, the carriage 70 includes a lifting table having two lifting cradles 73 which enable a roll 1 to be lifted vertically to a level in which the roll core is aligned with the trunnions 333 on the bracket legs 332. It will be understood, however, that the lifting table/lifting cradles 73 can be omitted when the bracket legs 332 have trunnions 333 which can be displaced vertically into alignment with the core of a roll resting on the car¬ riage 70.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the join-preparing device 35 may include a carriage which is suspended on both sides by means of wheels 351 on a horizontal supportive flange of a respective frame beam 34, wherein a piston-cylinder device 352 is provided for moving the carriage forwards and backwards towards and away from the adjacent roll 1. The apparatus also includes join-preparing means which comprise rollers 353 for unrolling one or more paper turns from the roll 1, and knives (not shown) for cut¬ ting clean the leading end of the paper web, and also means for applying a roll joining or splicing means.

A roll is prepared for joining to another roll in the inventive apparatus in the following manner.

Assume that one roll holder 33a carries a roll 1 which has undergone roughly the first half of its join-prepar¬ ing operation in the join-preparing device 35, and that a carriage 70 carrying a new roll has arrived in its determined position adjacent the other, empty roll holder 33b. As the new roll 1 is transferred to the second roll holder 33b, the aforesaid roll carried in the first roll holder undergoes the remaining half of its join-preparing operation. Upon completion of the join-preparing operation on the "old" roll and upon completion of the transfer of the "new" roll to the holder 33b, the transfer device 31 is activated so as to place the "old" join-prepared roll adjacent the now empty carriage 70, and so that the new roll is placed adjacent the join-preparing device 35. As the "old" roll is transferred to the empty carriage 70 (the transfer device 31 remaining stationary) approximately the first half of the join-preparing operation is carried out on the new roll. The carriage carrying the join-prepared roll is now driven away to its destination. A new car¬ riage carrying a new roll now moves into the determined carriage position and is positioned according to the determined orientation of the carriage adjacent the now empty roll holder 33. As the new roll is lifted by the carriage to the empty roll holder, the second half of the join-preparing operation is carried out on the preceding roll located in the join-preparing device 35, and so on, in accordance with the above-described working cycle.

The join-preparing operation is carried out essentially while a still unprepared roll is transferred from its holder to the carriage, and while a new roll is trans¬ ferred from a carriage in said determined position to a roll holder located above the carriage.

It will therefore be understood that a join-preparing operation is carried out essentially during the two last-mentioned time periods, although the operation also continues over a time period therebetween during which two carriages change places in the determined position. This intermediate time period, however, is normally of negligible duration in relation to the two time periods in which a roll is transferred between the carriage and the adjacent holder. The working cycles which include the aforesaid three time periods also include a short time period during which the transfer device causes the holder to shift position, although this time period is also very short and normally negligible in relation to the length of the working cycle as a whole.

Accordingly, in practice, the time consumed by the join- preparing operation is a controlling factor and is essentially divided into two periods of equal duration, wherein the apparatus 30 is constructed to be able to permit the transfer of a roll between the carriage and the holder during one such time period and also to permit the device 31 to swing through 180°, or to enable the carriages 70 to shift in their determined positions during one such time period. Although the invention has been described in the afore¬ going with reference to a preferred exemplifying embodi¬ ment thereof, it will be evident that the inventive concept can be realized with modified embodiments of the described method and the described equipment within the scope of the following Claims. A central and important feature of the invention is that join-preparation is carried out during a time period in which a roll is transferred from the carriage to its holder and during a period in which the roll is transferred from the holder to the carriage, as before described, thereby minimizing the carriage waiting time at the join-preparing equip¬ ment, where carriages arrive with time interspaces that correspond to the join-preparing time of individual rolls. When the demand for join-prepared rolls is low, the apparatus may, of course, be constructed to prepare a roll for joining to another roll without requiring a new roll to be received by the join-preparing apparatus before treatment of the preceding roll has been finally treated and discharged to a carriage.

Claims

C L A I M S

1. A method for preparing rolls of printing paper to enable one roll to be joined to another, wherein rolls (1) of printing paper are transported to and from a join-preparing apparatus (30) in which the rolls are prepared for joining one roll to another, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i z e d by transporting the rolls (1) piece- wise on carriages (70); moving each carriage (70) to a specific position in the join-preparing apparatus (30) in spaced relationship with a join-preparing device (35) forming part of said apparatus (30); transferring each roll between a first position (33b) on the carriage (70) in the determined carriage position and a second posi- tion (33a) for coaction with the join-preparing device (35) by means of a transfer device (31) having two mutually separated roll carriers (33), each being mov¬ able by the transfer device (31) from the first to the second position and vice versa; and carrying out the join-preparation of a roll essentially during a time period in which a preceding roll is transferred from a holder in the first position to a carriage in its de¬ fined position and a time period during which a subse¬ quent roll is transferred from a carriage in said de- fined position to a holder in said first position, wherein the transfer device (31) is able to place a join-prepared roll on the empty carriage in said deter¬ mined position immediately after receiving an unprepared roll from a carriage.

2. A method according to Claim 1 , c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the transfer device (31) includes a carousel having a vertical shaft (32) which carries said holders (33) in two diametrically opposed posi- tions; and in that the determined position of the car¬ riage and the position of the join-preparing device lie in two diametrically opposed positions in relation to the carousel1 shaft (31).

3. A method according to Claim 2, c h a r a c - t e r i z e d in that the holders (33) are intended to support the rollers with the roll axis tangential to the circuate path of the roll around the carousell axle, said roll axis preferably being horizontal.

4. Equipment for preparing rolls of printing paper for joining said rolls to other rolls, comprising a trans¬ port arrangement (70, 71) for transporting rolls (1) to and from a join-preparing apparatus (30), in which the rolls are prepared individually for joining, c h a r - a c t e r i z e d in that the transport arrangement

(70, 71) includes a carriage (70) for each roll (1); in that each carriage (70) is intended to transport an unprepared roll (1) to a determined position in the join-preparing apparatus (30) in spaced relationship with a join-preparing device (35) forming part of said apparatus (30); in that a transfer device (31) having two mutually separated roll holders (33) is arranged to move each roll holder (33) to a first position (33b) in which a roll can be transferred between its roll holder and the carriage (70) in said determined position, and to a second position (33a) in which a roll (1) is held in position for coaction with the join-preparing device (35); in that said join-preparing equipment also in¬ cludes means for join-preparing a roll which is held in said second position (33a) by one of the holders (33), essentially in the time period that is covered while a join-prepared, preceding roll is transferred from the holder (33) in the first position to an empty carriage in said determined position, and while a subsequent roll which has arrived on a new carriage in said determined position is transferred to the empty holder (33) in said first position; and in that the transfer device (31) is constructed to place a join-prepared roll on the empty carriage (70) immediately after receiving an unprepared roll from said carriage.

5. Equipment according to Claim 4, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the transfer device includes a carousel having a rotational axle (32); and in that the carousel carries the holders (33) in angularly separated positions.

6. Equipment according to Claim 5, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i z e d in that the axle (32) is vertical.

7. Equipment according to Claim 5 or 6, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i z e d in that the holders (33) are located in two diametrically opposed positions in relation to the carousel axle (32); and in that the join-preparing device and the carriage, in its first position, are located in two diametrically opposed positions in rela¬ tion to the carousel axle.

8. Equipment according to any one of Claims 4-7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transfer device (31) is constructed to adjust the holders to positions which correspond to one roll being located on or above the carriage (70) and the other roll being in alignment with the join-preparing device (35).

9. Equipment according to any one of Claims 4-8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the join-preparing device (35) can be moved (351, 352) into and out of coaction with a roll held by the transfer device (31) in position for coaction with the join-preparing device (35).

10. Equipment according to any one of Claims 5-9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the transfer device is constructed to swing the holder through an angle of 180^* in alternate swinging directions.